Fear the Pony

[Latrobe]

I remember SkatSR and Steve were very good in P-51s. TonyJoey is very good in his P-51. I loved fighting Pand and his P-51B, he always gave me quite a hard time trying to get a shot on him. Paladin and the 4th Debden are some smart Pony pilots. I love running up against them because they will always work together and it makes the fight extremely difficult. Higheye loves his P-51 and he's slowly getting getting in it each time I see him. 


The P-51 and their pilots get a lot of grief because of how they fly using BnZ tactics and the speed of the plane to escape danger. Everyone seems to expect every fight to be a slow, E draining, turn fight. You guys do realize that the TnB fight is just ONE way to dogfight right? BnZ IS another style of dogfighting and one that the P-51s excel at with its speed and ability to hold E. The very basics of dogfighting tells you to use your advantages against your opponents weaknesses and fight YOUR fight. A P-51 will never win a slow turn fight against an A6M, so why blow all your E to get into a turn fight that you will lose?

Also, I'm talking about using proper BnZ tactics. What we see a lot of times in the MA of the 1 P-51 diving in from 25K through a fight at 5K and then continuing on for 3 sectors of the deck is not Boom'n'Zoom. That pilot just mistook the 'Zoom' part as zooming away from the fight as fast as possible. The 'Zoom' means Zoom Climbing, using your excessive speed to climb back to altitude and reset for another attack. In the BnZ fight you want to line up a perfect approach, dive in, and get a killing shot on your target. If he sees you and avoids you and is now actively aware of you and fighting you, then you use your speed to climb, reset, and then slowly work him and force him to burn E so that he can't: 1- climb up to you, and 2- has no E to maneuver and avoid you.


The next time you see someone using "proper BnZ" tactics, don't immediately get on 200 and call them out for being "nooby" or "sucky". Instead, be aware that you are now on the receiving end of a BnZ fight, don't waste any E doing unnecessary maneuvering, slowly climb away from your attacker to gain altitude and separation, and fight back!



This was quite a long reply to a simple question. Sorry for the boring rant! 
I just love thinking about this kind of stuff and I could of kept going on, but I stopped myself.     

[JunkyII]

No P51 pilot ever stands out because it's not hard to fly....there are a lot of guys who get a lot of kills in it for sure but most all the 5 any ez mode planes have that.

[bozon]

No P51 pilot ever stands out because it's not hard to fly....there are a lot of guys who get a lot of kills in it for sure but most all the 5 any ez mode planes have that.

The pony is easy to fly in the boom and run mode. Knife fighting with it is not so easy, yet the P-51 is much better at this then what people give it credit for. The problem is that the P-51 spoils its pilots till they forget that they can press the attack and stay within 1.5k of their target at all times. They are just so used to be able to fly away that they forget how to fight, as opposed to other planes that often force you to use other styles simply because you cannot simply wave bye-bye and leave everyone behind. P51-D is not a good turner, but it is a good fighter even without running.

[R 105]

 I like the P-51D because I can fly it like I stole it and it stay together. I can take two 500 pound bombs go to a large field and pork all four ords and fly home. I have good luck killing bombers with it but I don't do much dog fighting because my frame rate is just to slow so I do more ground attack stuff but I love the P-51D. 

[Midway]

Pfffftt....

I was one of the orignal tnb ponies, showing it's capabilities...  the I moved onto and did the same for the lala.

Given that I pwned your LA7 over a 1/3rd of the time (by your own admission and statistics), I very likely would do the same to your pony... TonyJoey's pony is unreal good.... and I seem to be unable to win.

Your LA7 (ergo your Pony as well).... well... nuff said.

Not to mention your Spitfire vs mine.

<3 Shane

Pfffffft indeed.

[DaveBB]

I love flying the P-51D.  Standard mission profile for me is to start off 1 sector away from the fighting.  50% fuel.  WEP climb to 10k, level off and cruise at military power.  P-51 will cruise at 400mph at that altitude. 

The P-51 can dogfight.  Once speed is bled off and I find myself in a sticky situation, I use max flaps for maneuvering (retracting them asap).  It turns better to the left (easier to control).  When down on the deck and forced to duke it out, I try to make the fight a 2-circle fight (where my opponent is turning in the opposite direction of me).  Of course the old addage "Always turn towards your attacker" applies here.  If you can get so low that when the bandit has a firing solution that he has to push negative-G's, it usually spoils his shot.  This is why it's important to make it a 2-circle fight, rather than a 1-circle.  Low and at close range, it only takes one snapshot with the 6 .50s to rip the wings off pretty much anything.  Judicious use of the rudder at these low speeds is important, as is unloading the aircraft every chance you get to regain some airspeed.

 

[mechanic]

Anyone who doubts Joey can fly that thing should try and duel him in ponys. The MA is designed for sandbox play, don't ever judge the skill of a pilot by how they fly sometimes in the MA. Always take it 1 on 1 and make a judgement from there. Joey is one of the guys I would recommend as a role model for new players. He is mature, cool headed and friendly as well as holding a whole bag of ability.

[Bruv119]

One of the guys mentioned in this thread killed me three straight times, all either picks or with significant altitude advantage over my 38G.  After the third death, I upped a Pony and went Pony hunting.  I bypassed every fight on the way and found said 51 stick, this time co-alt.  He ran for his ack and did some of the most awful stick stirring I've ever seen right up until he blew up.  A fearsome 51 pilot would not do this.  

Pretty much any good stick that gets in a Pony will be a force.  For whatever reason, the vast majority of dedicated Pony pilots don't really squeeze all the potential out of a Pony, instead relying on it's speed to disengage constantly.  It's a shame, really.

better with names bro!   

[Bruv119]

Anyone who doubts Joey can fly that thing should try and duel him in ponys. The MA is designed for sandbox play, don't ever judge the skill of a pilot by how they fly sometimes in the MA. Always take it 1 on 1 and make a judgement from there. Joey is one of the guys I would recommend as a role model for new players. He is mature, cool headed and friendly as well as holding a whole bag of ability.

QFT!   

[Debrody]

better with names bro!  

Triton is much more polite (mature?) than me, as it would be my style to throw all the crap that happened up on the table. Could tell you some stories though, with illustrious names playing roles in them, wanna hear them (again)?

Wont do that again. Expressed my feelings enough times.  

[Slash27]

No P51 pilot ever stands out because it's not hard to fly....there are a lot of guys who get a lot of kills in it for sure but most all the 5 any ez mode planes have that.

Actually they do and have been named already.

[Bear76]

Dunno but I chase them around fairly often , how do you tell which ones are the best ? , is it how quickly they are able to get separation when they leave ? , or how quickly they make it back when you engage another plane ?

WERD

[JunkyII]

Actually they do and have been named already.

I should have made it more clear...that's just my opinion.

 Other rides in the game a lot harder to become "elite" in....such as m00t in a 152....those are the type people who stand out to me.

[uptown]

Yet there's other rides easier than the 51 to become "elite" in also...... wouldn't you agree?

[JunkyII]

Yet there's other rides easier than the 51 to become "elite" in also...... wouldn't you agree?

Yes...I would say hogs are easier to seem to be Elite in. Many pilots who can pick well are seen as great sticks in them but they can only fight when they have numbers and or alt.